E-Paper
13 tourists trapped in lift for 2 hours
Thirteen tourists on holiday here today had a harrowing time as they were trapped in the Himachal Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) lift on the Mall here for nearly two hours.
Thirteen tourists on holiday here today had a harrowing time as they were trapped in the Himachal Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) lift on the Mall here for nearly two hours.
The incident happened when one of the two lifts developed a snag and got stuck midway while going down this evening.
Initially, the tourists thought that it was a matter of a few minutes but they got panicky when they started suffocating inside the lift.
The staff at the lift also got panicky and police, fire brigade men and rescue parties were summoned and the stranded persons were taken out after nearly two hours.
The lift stuck again when some policemen were going up after the rescue operations was over but it did not last long.
The emergency exit was also stuck and the tourists had to be taken out by manually pulling the lift.
However, the HPTDC staff said the claim of the tourists that they remained stuck for two hours was “exaggerated” and said they were taken out in less than thirty minutes.
The Managing Director of HPTDC and other senior officials reached the lift and supervised the rescue operations.
HPTDC officials said one lift was out of order and overloading in the other lift could also be a reason for the snag.
The rescue mechanisms also did not work as the clutch also got jammed.
